Green by Design

Daniel Williams, AIA

Our society is living beyond its means. We are about to dispossess the earth of capital assets in the space of a few lifetimes through patterns of exploitation. These patterns are devastating the natural environment upon which we depend for our long-term survival. Architects for Social Responsibility

Advocate safe, energy-efficient, and long-lasting products and services. Act locally.

Green Design . . . is the act of solving problems in a manner that will minimally impact the resource base before, during, and after the manufacturing and construction process. In addition, the materials must be useful and give long-term benefit and return to the biosphere cycle. Advocate safe, energy-efficient, and long-lasting products and services. Things that last and are useful are the greatest hedge against waste and are better than reuse or recycling. Act locally. Green design helps protect the biosphere by preserving resources and reducing noxious gasses.

	This is a time of dwindling resources when the involvement of architects, landscape architects, urban planners, engineers, and the building professionals is essential to defining and guiding the future.
. . . as design professionals we must extend our area of expertise and action to visioning . . .	Essential to this effort is the awareness that as design professionals we must extend our area of expertise and action to visioning and designing communities that will protect our resources and preserve the futures of our children and grandchildren and those beyond.

	Human Sustainability is Directly Connected to the Sustainability of Nature
	On Sustainability: Sustainability requires that we live responsibly. Sustainability is smart. Sustainability is true-cost economics. Sustainability means building well. Waste is not sustainable.
	Renewable resources are sustainable if consumed at a rate slower than they are replenished. Water is just such a resource--it is renewable but use over supply is not sustainable. Recycling these resources can increase efficiency and provide sustainability.

	Building a more environmentally stable future clearly requires some vision. If fossil fuels are not to be used for power, then what? If forests are no longer to be cleared to grow food, then how is a larger population to be fed? If a throwaway culture leads inevitably to pollution and resource depletion, how can material needs be satisfied? In other words, if the present path is so obviously unsound, what picture of the future can be used to move toward a global community that can endure? Brown, Flavin, and Postel
	The following represent the basic parts for improving our sustainability.
	Air - Fossil fuel use continues to be the major source of air pollution. Less obvious is off-gassing during the manufacturing of most products. When you specify products that minimize off-gassing, you are helping to minimize air pollution--inside (IAQ) and outside.
	Water - Fight for permitting greywater-use legislation. Specify xeriscaping, preferably without irrigation (if irrigation is necessary, use timers, pre-dawn, with soil moisture sensors). Design your site plans to hold 100% of rainfall within swales or created wetlands. Use cisterns. Preserve or recreate the pre-construction bioregional function of the whole region.

	Earth - Make a conscious effort to work with the existing topography and soils so as not to disturb the biological and hydrological flow of the local area or region.
Create the demand!	Materials - Use materials, woods, etc. that are from sustainable-yield sources (growing as fast as we are using) or renewable resources. Specify in your projects materials that are recycled and designed for reuse. Use local supplies and materials. Let manufacturers know you want these products. Create the demand!
	The following is a list that you can expand, change, or add to your own office "Green Criteria."
	Is it recyclable? Does it have recycled content? Does it contain low embodied energy? Is it a local product? Is it non-toxic before, during, and after manufacturing? Does it leave its source environmentally connected? Is there a designated reuse?
	Is It Needed? Is this just another mouse trap? Does it, in its use, improve our situation? Does it increase efficiency without adding consumption?
	Is It Useful? Does it add to net energy? Does it make life/living better? Does it add to the whole? Does it change wasteful habits?

	Is It Part Of A Cycle? Is there a useful life-to-reuse cycle? Is it degradable in realistic conditions? Will it be used?
	Is It Part Of A Waste Stream? Homasote What can be reused? What is the embodied energy? (The total energy used is the measure of a material. Manufacturing and distribution of the product are all part of the embodied energy.)
	Next Steps AIA: Environmental Resource Guide (ERG)--"online" Develop your green specs--materials and methods Think and design for the long term. Provide for stewardship of the regional system by the responsible design of the parts Vote for leadership in these categories Run for leadership!
	"It's not easy being green."
	Daniel Williams, AIA, a practicing architect and planner, is Research Associate Professor at the Center for Urban and Community Design at the University of Miami, School of Architecture. He is presently chair of the Committee on the Environment and Energy for the Dade-area chapter of the American Institute of Architects and serves on the Dade Green Coalition Board and City of Miami, Urban Development Review Board.

Dan Williams' "Bioregionalism: Watershed Planning and Community Design" Other stories of interest from the South Florida Sustainability Conference